Border closures caused havoc for international travel during the pandemic, but it's led to Tasmanian students looking a bit closer to home for military history.
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The Frank McDonald Prize, which traditionally offered an international tour of historic war sites and museums, was forced to change to a new tactic in 2021 due to COVID-19.
Like many trips and events, the 2020 iteration of the prize, which is open to all Tasmanian grade 9 students, was cancelled and organisers quickly found a solution.
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The Frank McDonald Memorial Prize is run by the state government through the Department of Communities.
Frank McDonald was Tasmania's last World War I veteran.
With no choice but to abandon the international tour due to border restrictions, the team devised a national replacement for the next cohort of students.
"Alternative tour options were identified as soon as possible, with a decision taken that a domestic study tour to significant military sites in Australia would be undertaken [in 2021]," deputy secretary Kate Kent said.
To make up for lost time, two tours will run in 2021, and the Frank McDonald Memorial Prize was opened to grade 10 students for the first time this year.
Students in the 2019-20 study group departed for their national tour on April 16.
They will travel to Albany to visit the National Anzac Centre, and will visit the Army and Maritime museums in Perth. They then travel to Darwin to visit the military and aviation museums and participate in a cultural tour of Kakadu. On return to Darwin they will tour Darwin Harbour and on Anzac Day will attend the dawn service.
They will then go to the Adelaide River War Cemetery to explore the memorials to those who were killed in the Darwin bombings.
Ms Kent said the committee was catering to students who missed out on entering the prize last year by offering it to grade 10 students this year.
"The [Frank McDonald] Prize engages students in remembering the service and sacrifice of our Tasmanian diggers. It promotes and preserves the Anzac spirit in the Tasmanian community," she said.
"The current tour group have remained engaged throughout the last year through meetings and attendance at Victory in the Pacific commemorations on August 15, 2020."
The prize is a joint initiative of the state government and the RSL Tasmania.
For more information go to to the website.
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